Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Ukraine (Ratification: 2000)

Article 1(a) of the Convention. Penal sanctions involving compulsory labour as a punishment for holding or expressing political views or views ideologically opposed to the established political, social or economic system. The Committee previously noted that under section 185-1 of the Code on Administrative Offences, a second breach (within a year) of the rules governing the organization and conduct of public meetings, street marches and demonstrations may be punishable with correctional labour for a term of up to two months. It requested information on the application of this provision in practice.

The Committee notes the Government’s statement that, in 2012, there were a total of 139 offences under section 185-1 of the Code on Administrative Offences, including six repeat offences, and that 124 persons were issued with an administrative offence notice by the police. In the first six months of 2013, 87 such offences were recorded, including five repeat offenders, and 78 persons were issued with an administrative offence notice. The Government indicates that, in general, the sentence imposed by courts on persons convicted of an administrative offence under section 185-1 is a warning, a fine or administrative detention. The Committee also notes that a draft Law on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly has been developed, containing provisions to repeal section 185-1. In this regard, the Committee notes that the Human Rights Committee (HRC), in its concluding observations of 22 August 2013, expressed concern at the lack of a domestic legal framework regulating peaceful events and at the application by domestic courts of outdated regulations which are not in line with international standards and severely restrict the right to freedom of assembly. The HRC also expressed concern at reports that the success rate of local authorities’ applications in court for banning peaceful assemblies may be as high as 90 per cent (CCPR/C/UKR/CO/7, paragraph 21).

With reference to paragraph 302 of its 2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions concerning rights at work, the Committee recalls that Article 1(a) of the Convention prohibits the use of forced or compulsory labour “as a means of political coercion or education or as a punishment for holding or expressing political views or views ideologically opposed to the established political, social or economic system”. The range of activities which must be protected, under this provision, from punishment involving forced or compulsory labour thus comprises the freedom to express political or ideological views as well as various other generally recognized rights, such as the right of association and of assembly, through which citizens seek to secure the dissemination and acceptance of their views and which may also be affected by measures of political coercion. The Committee accordingly requests Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that any legislation adopted regulating public assemblies does not contain penalties involving compulsory labour for activities protected by Article 1(a) of the Convention. It also requests the Government to provide information on any progress made towards the adoption of the draft Law on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly. Pending its adoption, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the specific penalties applied to persons found to have committed repeat offences under section 185-1 of the Code on Administrative Offences, and to provide copies of relevant court decisions in this regard. It requests, in particular, for the Government to indicate if any persons sentenced under this provision have been sentenced to correctional work, as provided for in paragraph 2 of section 185-1.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.